ATLANTA _ It had been over two years since the Braves held a non-losing record beyond the first dozen games of a season, but on Sunday they ended that in convincing fashion while pitcher Jaime Garcia ended his own recent skid.
Brandon Phillips had three doubles, the Matts _ Kemp and Adams _ hit home runs in a four-run fourth inning, and Garcia pitched seven strong innings in a 7-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks at SunTrust Park to complete a sweep of a team with the fourth-best record in the majors.
The Braves have won 16 of their past 24 games and moved to 45-45, the first time they've been at .500 since their 6-6 start this season and first time they've been there later than that since they were 42-42 on July 7, 2015.
With the defending World Series champion Cubs arriving for a three-game series at SunTrust starting Monday, the Braves will try to get above .500 for the first time since June 1, 2015, when they were 26-25. The Braves were last above .500 after the All-Star break on Sept. 14, 2014, when they had a 75-74 record.
Garcia (3-7) snapped a seven-star winless streak, limiting the Diamondbacks to four hits, one run and three walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings. He had been 0-4 with a 6.87 ERA since the beginning of June and had 9.41 ERA over his past four starts before Sunday, allowing six earned runs three times and five earned runs in the other game during that slump.
The veteran left-hander might've increased his trade value Sunday when he didn't give up a hit until the fourth inning and didn't allow any extra-base hits. Garcia is in the final year of his contract and was expected to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, though his recent woes had served to cool trade rumors involving him.
The Braves recorded their fifth series sweep of the season and second consecutive three-game sweep including June 30-July 2 at Oakland. It was their first series sweep against the Diamondbacks since June 2013, when the Braves swept them in three games at Turner Field. Arizona has a season-high five-game losing streak.
The Braves staked Garcia to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ender Inciarte led off with a single and Phillips drove him in with the first of his three consecutive doubles, the first three-double day of the 16-year major league career.
They added another run in the second inning after Adams reached base on a wild-pitch third strike and Dansby Swanson hit an infield single that ended with an errant throw and Adams scoring from second base.
The Braves blew the game open in the third inning with four runs including a three-run homer from Kemp and a solo shot two batters later from Adams. Phillips started that pivotal inning with the second of his doubles and added another RBI double in the fourth.
The two-homer third inning was the first for the Braves since June 22, when Phillips and Lane Adams homered in the eight-run fifth inning of a 12-11 win against the Giants at SunTrust Park.
Kemp's three-run homer was his 13th of the season and first in 16 games since June 21 vs. San Francisco. He hit .197 (12-for-61) with one extra-base hit and a .471 OPS in his past 16 games before Sunday.
Matt Adams' 15th home run gave him two in his past four games after an 11-game drought. It was his 14th homer for the Braves in 46 games since being traded to the Braves from St. Louis as a temporary first-base fill-in for injured Freddie Freeman.
After driving in just one run during an 11-game stretch from June 23 through July 7, Adams has six RBIs in his past four games on a pair of three-run homers at Washington July 8 and Sunday.
Diamondbacks starter Zack Godley (3-4) was charged with eight hits, seven runs (six earned) and one walk with nine strikeouts.
Phillips also had three hits including a double and a home run in Saturday's 8-5 win. Seven of his eight home runs in his first season with the Braves have come at SunTrust Park, where Phillips, who grew up in Stone Mountain, usually has an entourage of family and friends in attendance for most games.
Phillips, 36, was slowed for much of the first half by a groin injury that radiated into quadriceps soreness, but after getting acupuncture treatment during the final series before the All-Star break he said his leg felt much better and that he intended to be at his usual level of performance after getting plenty of rest and more acupuncture and other treatment during the All-Star break.
So far, he's done precisely that. Phillips, who was hit by a pitch in his fourth plate appearance Sunday, is 7-for-12 with five doubles and four RBIs in three games since the break.
Garcia didn't give up a hit until David Peralta's slow-rolling infield single to start the fourth inning. Peralta went to second on Garcia's throwing error on the play and scored when Paul Goldschmidt followed with a single through the right side. The Braves still led 6-1 and Garcia retired the next two batters, walked Ketel Marte, and struck out Daniel Descalso with two runners on to end the inning.
